Through its strategic plan, KISD officials have aimed to have a community-led initiative for the district, KISD Chief Communications Officer Andrea Grooms said at the May 13 school board meeting.
“This district has historically defined strategic planning as a community-led initiative designed to set priorities with the goal of focusing resources and energy on the goals set forth by the community and the board,” Grooms said.
How we got here
In 2017, the district began its strategic five-year plan with a Texas Education Agency provider called Engaged to Learn, which takes a collaborative approach that focuses on aligning teacher and staff work with the vision of the board and the community, Grooms said.
In 2022, the board decided to do a two-year strategic plan that would have the same eight goals. It was in 2023, leading up to the 2024-26 strategic plan, when another outcome focused on safety in physical environments was added by the board and committee, Grooms said.
According to Grooms, the nine goals for the 2024-26 strategic plan included:
- Actively ensuring safe and secure physical environments for students and staff
- Having all learning environments foster engagement by integrating personalized learning experiences
- Developing operational systems and resources that will ensure equity in response to the needs of a growing district with rapidly changing demographics
- Developing meaningful, effective assessments that inspire and inform students and educators about continuous improvement
- Creating and sustaining a best‐in‐class infrastructure to securely accommodate this and the next generation of digital content and tools for all stakeholders
- Attracting and supporting high-quality staff members to optimize their impact on student learning and create a culture of staff retention
- Addressing challenges in the school finance system
- Developing intentional strategic partnerships that capitalize on the strengths, resources and talents of all stakeholders to engage the entire community
- Actively supporting the emotional well‐being of all students and staff with help from the community
Grooms said some results of the district’s strategic plan so far fall into the following categories:
- Safety and well-being: KISD launched the Speakup app, where people can anonymously report tips of criminal activity, and the Mental Health Intervention team provides consultation and directly responds to student and staff crises that involve mental health and risk.
- Staff recruitment: Teacher salaries are above the market median, and the teacher mentoring program was expanded due to the strategic plan.
- Legislative advocacy: This includes community and elected official educational campaigns and board legislative priorities.
“I just think of how impactful these have been in our district and keeping our success going, and many of them focusing on students, a lot of them on staff and of course the community,” board trustee Rebecca Fox said. “I really appreciate the community engagement piece that everyone builds on what the community needs and what people perceive us by.”
What’s next
The next strategic plan committee discussion will be in spring 2025 when the board will review the one-year action items from the 2024-26 strategic plan, Grooms said.
